1) Read this (http://www.nanowrimo.org/pep/lemony-snicket). I know, I know, but just... do it. It gives perspective when and where perspective is most needed.
2) Often when you talk about writing I have to bite down on the impulse to ask if I can read yours and discuss it with you (and just become writing buddies in general). But I'm not sure if that would be helpful to you -- surely you must have readers lined up already, who know you and know what kind of books you want to write. And it's not like I have Exclusive Insider Knowledge, being as unpubbed as yourself. Still, the offer is there.
3) If that's not something you're interested in, I have only one question: in your stories, have you kept the personal? Have you included that element -- a character, a journey, a theme -- which is part of you, something you learned and suffered and internalized, which feels so private sometimes the thought of putting it on paper feels deeply fascinating and awful at the same time?
As long as you keep that I believe you will be fine. Everything else is tricks and structure and the ability to make words into sentences into paragraphs into coherent pages; all of which, while not easy, can be corrected in revision. There's no fix for someone handing back your manuscript and saying, "This is fun, but there's nothing honest in it."
I don't mean to be glib -- I really don't -- or suggest unchecked self-insertion. None of this is easy. I just think people confuse "good writing" with "telling a good story," and the latter needs something to it, a kernel of truth which demands communication so that, as coded as it is with magic or murder or just plain lies, the reader responds to it. I think people can't help responding to truth.
Thus concludes my possibly pretentious utterances for the day. ;)
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 5 Feb 2013 01:52 am (UTC)2) Often when you talk about writing I have to bite down on the impulse to ask if I can read yours and discuss it with you (and just become writing buddies in general). But I'm not sure if that would be helpful to you -- surely you must have readers lined up already, who know you and know what kind of books you want to write. And it's not like I have Exclusive Insider Knowledge, being as unpubbed as yourself. Still, the offer is there.
3) If that's not something you're interested in, I have only one question: in your stories, have you kept the personal? Have you included that element -- a character, a journey, a theme -- which is part of you, something you learned and suffered and internalized, which feels so private sometimes the thought of putting it on paper feels deeply fascinating and awful at the same time?
As long as you keep that I believe you will be fine. Everything else is tricks and structure and the ability to make words into sentences into paragraphs into coherent pages; all of which, while not easy, can be corrected in revision. There's no fix for someone handing back your manuscript and saying, "This is fun, but there's nothing honest in it."
I don't mean to be glib -- I really don't -- or suggest unchecked self-insertion. None of this is easy. I just think people confuse "good writing" with "telling a good story," and the latter needs something to it, a kernel of truth which demands communication so that, as coded as it is with magic or murder or just plain lies, the reader responds to it. I think people can't help responding to truth.
Thus concludes my possibly pretentious utterances for the day. ;)